From time to time, a person or entity may wish to find or confirm a detail about a topic, answer a question, or define or collect other information regarding a subject. In order to try to find the desired information, the searcher may try to locate a single source that may provide the information and, if so located, conduct a search of it. However, locating a source for information may not be an easy task, especially if the information that is being sought is very specific or highly specialized. A searcher may need to conduct an extended search to identify even possible sources of information. If the searcher fails to find a source for the desired information and the information that is being sought, the searcher has some options.
If the searcher cannot find a source for all the information that is being sought, the searcher may try to identify sources that may provide at least some of the information and, from these possibly many sources, locate and develop the more complete body of information that is being sought. However, again identifying what sources exist that may provide information of the type that is being sought is a time consuming task. Furthermore, determining what specific information is available through each such source is a time consuming task. Some of such time may be spent simply completing the one or more steps that a source may require before providing access to the information held by such source. The source may require that an application process be completed, or a fee be paid, or some “sign in” feature satisfied before access is provided. Again, the completion of these added steps, in order to find possibly at least some of the information that is being sought, adds time and overall makes the search process inefficient.
Furthermore, even if information can be obtained from multiple sources, it may not be readily joinable in order that a single body of information may be developed that the searcher can readily use. As a result, the searcher may need to move back and forth from the one or more non-joined bodies of information in order to have the benefit that a single body of information may provide. The separate nature of these components again makes it time consuming and inefficient for the searcher to obtain the full scope of information that is sought.
Even if a searcher is able to develop a combination of information that is of use to the searcher, the searcher may not be able to establish that each of the sources from which the searcher obtained the information is reliable and that the information is accurate. It is well known that sources can provide information that varies greatly in quality. Many traditional sources provide information, such as data, without checking its accuracy or quality. Few means are known to exist by which the accuracy and quality of information may be efficiently determined and, for example, aberrations within data and other information detected. As a result, while a searcher may be able to find that certain sources offer certain information, the searcher may not be able to determine which sources provide better quality information and which can be combined to provide the full scope of information that is being sought. As a result, even after expending a great amount of time and effort to locate the information, the searcher may be uncertain whether each portion and the combination of information is accurate and may be trusted.
While the combination of information drawn from disparate sources may provide the searcher with the body of information that the searcher is seeking, the combination may not be simple to access and download particularly in mobile digital environments. The combination also may be difficult to review including in such mobile digital environments. A combination having such shortcomings may make the overall usefulness of the combination limited. If the combination that is developed from the multiple sources of information is of a simple form, rather than complex, a searcher may wish to obtain some or all the original information from which the combination was developed for one or more reasons. The searcher may not only wish to verify what some or all the original information that was combined provides but also may wish to learn more about one particular component of the combination.
The searcher has another option if the searcher fails to find the source or sources for the information and the information that is being sought. The searcher may try to collect information about a topic that is related to the topic for which the searcher is seeking information and, from that related information, prepare an estimate of what the actual information that was sought may have been.
To illustrate, a business may wish to determine what are the holiday sales figures for a certain retail store during a certain period of time—possibly to determine the merits of the execution of a certain investment strategy or for market intelligence purposes. It is not likely that the desired information—the exact sales figures—is publicly available—or could be easily obtained in some way—such as by the direct observation of all the purchases made within the retail store. One option that the business may pursue is to redefine the question for which information is sought, generate information relevant to the redefined question and, from that information, generate an answer that may be used to provide an estimate relevant to the original question.
One example of this estimation process is the following. Given that a business searching for the actual sales figures for a store cannot likely obtain this information, the searcher may seek to determine the number of shoppers that came to the store for a given period of time and, from that number, extrapolate the sales activity. To determine whether the estimate may accurately portray the store's sales activity for the given period of time, the searcher may then compare the estimated sales activity with, for example, the sales activity at the same store but at a different period of time or for another store or relative to some industry average or reported sales activity for the company overall which may include a chain of multiple stores.
As another example, a person or entity may wish to determine how much manufacturing activity is taking place at a certain facility again possibly to determine the merits of a certain investment strategy, for market intelligence purposes, or for one or more other reasons. The information that is sought—the exact level of manufacturing taking place at the facility—may not be publicly available or easily obtained in some way—such as by the direct observation of the manufacturing activity—given that public access to the facility may not be permitted. The person or business seeking the information may redefine the question for which the information is sought, generate information relevant to the redefined question, and, from that information, generate an estimate relevant to the original question. For example, given that the actual manufacturing activity taking place at the facility may not be publicly known, the person or business may seek to determine what vehicles arrive and leave the facility, the number of such vehicles, and the time period in which the vehicles arrive and leave. The vehicles that are identified and counted may be passenger cars, train cars, and trucks. (In certain countries, bicycles—related activity may be relevant and counted.) A count of cars may permit an estimate to be generated of the number of workers at the facility. When and in what number the cars enter and leave the facility may permit an estimate to be made of whether one, two, or three shifts of workers are working at the facility. The number and types of trucks arriving and leaving the facility may permit an estimate to be generated of the volume of raw materials and components being received at the facility and the finished product that is being shipped from the facility. The number of train cars arriving and leaving the facility may permit similar estimates to be generated such as the amount of raw materials and components being received at the facility and the finished product that is being shipped from the facility. Any one or more sets of such information may allow the user to estimate whether and to what extent manufacturing is taking place at the facility. If the information is tracked over a period of time, an estimate may be generated whether the manufacturing activity is increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same. If the manufacturing activity at a different facility is known, a monitoring of that facility for worker or vehicle traffic and comparison of those numbers to the numbers generated for the target facility may allow a user to refine the originally generated estimates.
Similarly, if a user wishes to know whether and how much of an agricultural or forest product is being harvested in a certain area, the user may count the number of harvesting vehicles that are in the fields, the number of trucks that are on the road hauling product, or the number of vehicles that have arrived at storage facilities. While the types and numbers of vehicles that are associated with a certain activity may provide information from which an estimate of the scope of activity may be generated, data regarding the vehicle types and numbers may be difficult to obtain. A single source of such information may not exist. A business searching for this information would then need to gather the data. However, gathering such data may be time consuming and expensive.
Clearly, there is a demand for an improved system and methods by which a user can efficiently define a topic and obtain information from one or more information resources in order that the user can develop an easy-to-receive and review information product, the support for the substance of which may be accessible by the user. The present invention satisfies this demand.